Sometimes, little thought is given to the fact that the mental processes occurring between the ears governs our lives. It is in that space that motivations, attitudes and lifestyles are determined. King Solomon, relentless in his pursuit for satisfaction and happiness wrote … “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun” (Eccl 2:10-11 NIV).
Here was a great king who had everything except contentment of soul. Solomon had placed his faith in the pre-incarnate Christ who would one day go to the Cross and bear his sins. However, he had determined to go his own way and not God’s. Though living luxuriously and the envy of many, he found no lasting peace of mind until he admitted his sin to God and was restored to fellowship. It was then that he would write … “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole [duty] of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Eccl 12:13-14 NIV).
Note the king’s choice of words. Solomon did not say God would judge sins but the quality of the deeds. Man’s debt of sin, past, present and future, would be paid in full by Christ on the Cross. Therefore, any individual would be reconciled to God through faith in Christ.
However, Scripture does speak of future judgments. The judgment faced by the unbeliever evaluates the good deeds that are substituted for faith in Christ. John described this awesome judgment at the Great White Throne. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done” (Rev 20:11-13). However, the judicial verdict states that none of those worthy deeds compare to the perfect work of Christ on the Cross. Only His payment for sin satisfied God’s justice and righteousness. Therefore, the sentence imposed for rejecting Christ as Savior is eternal separation from God. The writer to the Hebrews warned … “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31 NIV).
The judgment [evaluation] of Christians examines the power source by which their deeds were accomplished. Did the believer function in the energy of the flesh, i.e., self-effort, or in the power of the Spirit, i.e., God working in and through them? In writing to the Corinthian churches, Paul likened the believer’s best self-effort to wood, hay and straw, and that which God accomplished in and through the life of the Christian, as gold silver and precious stone.
It is obvious then that Scripture contrasts two types of “good” that can be produced in the Christian’s life — human good energized by self-effort and divine good empowered by the Spirit of God. When there is unconfessed sin in the believer’s life, self is at work. When sin is confessed, God does the work. John said … “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9 NIV). It is then that divine good is produced … “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil 2:13 NIV).